Toronto - 2, Real Salt Lake - 2
Q. Jayden, congrats on the goal. I know for you, man, it's been a long time coming. How sweet was it to finally get your first goal tonight? Can you just break down the goal overall?
JAYDEN NELSON: Yeah, like you said, it's been a long time coming. I've been working towards it. It's great that I could come out and help the team to equalize the game.
I just seen the keeper throw out the ball, and I knew that I could press the player and take it off from him. I seen the goalie get off his line, so I tried to hit it as hard as I can for him not to tip it or anything. That was my thought process going into scoring my first goal.
Q. When it went up for review and then when the referee reviewed it on pitch side, what did you think? Did you think it would get overturned, or were you pretty confident that you'd won the ball clean?
JAYDEN NELSON: I had a flashback of U-17 World Cup when I scored against New Zealand. I'd kind of been through it already, so I was just praying that it didn't get overruled. I had a feeling that it could have been a foul, but thank God it wasn't.
Q. Jayden, congratulations on a beautiful goal. There were two, of course, beautiful goals by your club tonight. I wonder if you were an independent observer, which was the nicest?
JAYDEN NELSON: I'd have to give it to Kosi.
Q. You're an attacking player, a goal scorer, and you've had quite a few chances with TFC over your short career. Have you sort of been leaning on anybody on the team or even the coach in terms of like not getting too frustrated about not scoring yet, or have you just sort of kept in your own space knowing that eventually it was going to come?
JAYDEN NELSON: Yeah, I just knew eventually it will come, like playing game after game getting more experience. It's something that I've been working towards and something that needed to happen as well.
So just learning how to create those final attacks and making them more efficient is what I'm working on, and it paid off today.
Q. Jayden, 19 years of age, you accomplished so much. You worked up the ranks of Toronto FC, you've played for the Canadian Men's National Team, you even scored for the Canadian Men's National Team, and now you have your first goal for Toronto FC. Where does this rank in the highlights of your career so far?
JAYDEN NELSON: It's definitely up there scoring for my hometown club. It's definitely something I'll cherish for the rest of my life, and I'll remember. I'd say this is like one of the better goals I've scored, so I'm happy about it.
Q. Two little questions if I could. The first one, when you pick your head up there, is that when the net looks huge, or does it look tiny when you're staring at it?
JAYDEN NELSON: It's one of those that you don't really think, you just do. I couldn't tell you if the net looked big or small. I just looked up, and I seen an opportunity and I just hit it.
Q. Excellent. It doesn't matter as long as the ball goes in. Maybe just a bit on the reaction from your coach and your teammates. What was it like after the goal and maybe in the dressing room after the game?
JAYDEN NELSON: Obviously we were down 2-1, then we had to equalize the game. It was good we got a good away result, and everyone is pretty stoked about it. The goal is just to top it off. We're all pretty happy with the result.
Q. Jayden, Bob was saying that you've kind of -- we've talked about this as well. We've got into the final third, but you haven't been able to come up with the end product. He's saying a goal like this could potentially help that cause moving forward and maybe instill some confidence in you. Do you feel the same way? Is the monkey off your back?
JAYDEN NELSON: Yeah, I feel like it gives me more confidence to do things in the final third, and it's something that, like I said multiple times, I've been working on. So just getting this off my back -- like all the young guys scored already, so it's finally that it's my time now.
It's just something I've been working towards, and hopefully it gives me confidence moving forward.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports